THE UNFORTUNATE CLASH
by Milk80
Summary: This is a collaboration between myself and my friend V.  It takes place during the Legion's "Lost Years", somewhere in between Paul Levitz's second run and Geoff Johns' Legion stories.
1. Chapter 1

Phantom Girl's soft voice trembled as she related her tragic tale to the Legionnaires assembled at the Mission Monitor Board, three of whom – Mon-El, Shrinking Violet, and Chameleon Boy – lay dead on operating tables.

"There were four of them," she said, "a craggy mutant behemoth who looked vaguely Czarnian, a teenage boy with a massive deformed skull, a Tharrian with the same powers as Polar Boy, and a dark-haired woman who was beautiful but had the scariest eyes you could ever imagine.

"She seemed to be the leader, and the most powerful. She...she took down Mon-El with a single cosmic blast from her eyes!

"Then the teenager used telepathy to...completely discombobulate Chameleon Boy's mind and make him lose control over his transformations until his brain shut down. It was horrible! Poor Reep."

Phantom Girl choked back her tears, and continued.

"Vi was taunted by the mutant into fighting him, when my powers would have been much more effective against him. But Vi could be so reckless sometimes...and...and...she fell to the mutant's killing blow!"

Phantom Girl took a deep breath before concluding.

"The Tharrian tried to trap me in a block of solid ice, but luckily for me, he laid it on too thick and the block was too big and too opaque for them to notice that I had phased through it and escaped to safety and then made my way back here."

Her story now told, Phantom Girl put her head in her hands and began sobbing uncontrollably. Saturn Girl put a comforting hand on her shoulder and gently eased her anguish with her telepathy.

Legion leader Polar Boy was rarely at a loss for words, but anyone would have been silenced by such a tale. Mon-El and Vi's lovers, Shadow Lass and Lightning Lass, were stoic while Cham's best friend, Colossal Boy, had turned his head to hide his tears. The rest of the Legion was similarly quiet, until it fell to Brainiac 5 to break the silence.

"Based on Phantom Girl's description," said Brainiac 5, "it sounds like confirmation of my theory that Forza Quattro are not an urban legend after all."

"What in the galaxy is Forza Quattro?" queried Polar Boy, the youngest and least worldly Legionnaire despite his status.

"A vicious band of space vigilantes," replied Brainy, "who work outside the law and make up their own rules. The few to have survived an encounter with them tell tales almost identical to Phantom Girl's."

Brainy sighed, then abruptly went off on a bizarre tangent. "Say, Polar Boy, who do you favor to win the Venus-Jupiter game tonight?"

"Huh?" said a startled Polar Boy, before regaining his composure. "Oh, uh...Jupiter for sure."

"No," said Brainy, "it's Venus all the way. Wanna bet?"

"Yeah...sure," answered Polar Boy, "I'll see you in my office later."

What none of the other Legionnaires knew was that Brainy and Polar Boy had been speaking in a code known only between the two of them. Roughly deciphered, it meant that Brainy's brilliant mind suspected that there was more than met the eye, and this mandate a private conference.


	2. Chapter 2

LVTF2

Terlena Yresi's beautiful eyes began to glow a devilish red as her impeccably maintained brows knitted themselves into a frown.

"Well, Botan?" she demanded. "What do you have to report?"

"Calm yourself, darling," replied the teenage boy with the hairless, misshapen skull, "I'll have something to report in just a...ah, here we go. Yes, that is indeed a Legion cruiser making its way towards this seemingly abandoned space platform, and among the Legionnaires on board is our main quarry, Brainiac 5."

Terlena's exquisite lips formed a wicked smile. "Excellent." she said.

The third member of their party, the towering and hideously ugly Lupo, merely cracked his knuckles and made a guttural growl, sounding like a wild animal closing in on its prey.

EARLIER THAT DAY...

Saturn Girl and Phantom Girl watched as a formidable team of Legionnaires – Brainiac 5, Ultra Boy, Tellus, Quislet, Sun Boy, and Shadow Lass – boarded the first available Legion cruiser. Dawnstar would be leading the ship to its destination, with Wildfire at her side for backup.

"I should be going with them," sniffled Phantom Girl to Saturn Girl, "really, Imra, I'm fine."

"You need to recuperate." was Saturn Girl's firm reply.

As the ship launched, Phantom Girl flinched when she saw Sensor Girl approaching. This did not escape Saturn Girl's attention.

"You have been through so much, Phantom Girl," said Sensor Girl serenely, "and I want you to know I am here to help you in any way that I can."

"Th-thanks." stammered Phantom Girl.

"I offer you the hand of sisterly solidarity." said Sensor Girl, extending her hand.

Phantom Girl awkwardly put her hand in Sensor Girl's hand...

...and then, without warning, Sensor Girl brutally twisted Phantom Girl's arm behind her back and put her in a headlock.

"Brainy was right!" snarled Sensor Girl, "She's an imposter!"

"I have to say, your powers of illusion are impressive." declared Saturn Girl with her hands on her hips. "You were even able to block my telepathy. If Sensor Girl hadn't returned from off-world today, you might have been able to accomplish whatever your evil plan is."

"Now," hissed Sensor Girl, "reveal to us your true self."

Sensor Girl and Saturn Girl were expecting the imposter to have some kind of monstrous appearance. They were surprised when she turned out to be a 14-year-old girl of average appearance except for her hair, which was dyed magenta.

"You can't stop us!" sneered the impostor defiantly.

Outside the Legion headquarters, an unremarkable-looking teenage boy and his pet Protean were having no trouble blending into the crowd. Little did the citizenry know that the two were allied with the imposter within the Legion's sanctum, and through the communication device in the imposter's contact lenses, he was witnessing their plan going askew.

He dialed a special number on his cellphone and promptly heard a wary male voice inquire, "Yes?"

"Eva's been compromised!" said the boy. "What do I do now?"

"Abort." came the stoic reply.

"N-no! I can't leave her! They'll send her to prison!"

"Domingo, you moron, do as I say!"

Domingo impulsively cut off the conversation and gave the Protean the signal. As Domingo ran towards Legion headquarters and unconcealed his blaster, the Protean shape-shifted into a monstrous canine-lizard-ish Dekai and followed Domingo.

The deadly duo used aggression and agility to overcome the SP guards outside and the automated self-defense systems at the entrance. But they could not prevent the intruder alarm from sounding off.

The alarm caught Saturn Girl and Sensor Girl by surprise. This was all the opportunity Eva needed to knock both of the Legionnaires unconscious with some spectacular martial arts moves and dash away. It now looked like the evildoers' mysterious plan against the Legion might be a success after all.


	3. Chapter 3

At the Mission Monitor Board, the five presently remaining Legionnaires watched Eva, and Domingo, and their monstrous Protean in canine-lizard form, on a split-screen.

Polar Boy issued his commands. "I suspect the girl's heading for the Power Source; Colossal Boy, Dream Girl, stop her from reaching it. Blok, Timber Wolf, Lightning Lass and I will head to the lower levels and capture the boy and the Protean. Let's roll!"

Shortly, Eva's athletically fast running was bringing her closer to her destination, until she turned a corner and found Colossal Boy grown to titanic size, effectively sealing off the corridor. "End of the road, twinkle-toes." he said to her.

"We'll see about that." she sneered. She charged at him as fast as she could, and then she did an astonishing gymnastic flip and impacted feet-first with Colossal Boy's giant solar plexus. Colossal Boy groaned as he faded out of consciousness and slumped over, giving Eva a space to escape through and continue on her way.

Far down below, Lighting Lass and Polar Boy fired, respectively, electric bolts and streams of ice at Domingo and the Protean. The agile intruders were able to dodge the fire and circumvent the heroes, but Polar Boy took another shot at the Protean from behind, and successfully froze the Protean's legs.

Domingo stopped on a dime, changed the setting on his weapon to its highest heat-emission setting, and melted the ice around his Protean's legs. But this gave Lightning Lass an advantage, and she fired directly at the puddle of water the Protean was now standing in. The Protean was stunned unconscious by the electric shock.

"Bad dog." quipped Lightning Lass, "Stay."

Domingo once again changed the setting on his weapon, this time to particle beam, and Lightning Lass and Polar Boy instinctively hit the deck as the deadly beams sailed above them, giving Domingo a chance to escape them...

...only for the intruder to be ambushed by Timber Wolf and Blok. Timber Wolf took the point, yet even his super-strength and considerable martial arts training proved futile against Domingo's liquid-smooth fighting moves. Imagine Domingo's surprise, then, when Blok duplicated the intruder's moves with an agility belying his bulk, and Domingo was knocked out cold.

"I'm...urgh...impressed, pebble-head." remarked Timber Wolf to Blok, even though his injuries made it difficult to talk.

"I recognized his fighting style from...observations made during my questionable past." replied Blok calmly.

While Blok took Timber Wolf to sickbay, Polar Boy and Lightning Lass raced upstairs to the headquarters' Power Source. To their relief, they found Dream Girl standing over an unconscious Eva.

"I got here just as she had started sabotaging the Power Source," related Dream Girl, "and when I blocked her swipe, she broke one of my nails. THAT was when I stopped holding back."

Later, much later, the Legionnaires were exhausted from their unsuccessful attempts at interrogating Eva and Domingo. Even Saturn Girl's telepathy encountered barriers that couldn't be penetrated. In desperation, they had contacted Shvaughn Erin, their Science Police liaison, and asked her to look at their records.

"Sorry, folks," said Shvaughn, "those two's records are classified, and sealed off tighter than my uniform. If I try to hack my way through, it could cost me my job."

"Thanks for trying, anyway." moaned Polar Boy warily. "Well, I guess all we can do is send them off to Labyrinth and hope that Brainy's team is having better luck than us."

At that very moment, Brainiac 5's team had entered the space station, only to find Terlena, Botan, and Lupo inside waiting for them.

"Forza Quattro, I presume," said an unfazed Brainiac 5, "or at least three-fourths of it."

"Yes," hissed Terlena, "and no force in the universe can stop us now."


End file.
